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Baby names

Find baby name inspiration and advice on the Mumsnet Baby Names forum.

Original poster

Seana/Shawna/Shauna

34 replies

lawrencecostin · 16/09/2018 08:20

Thoughts on this name?
Was rather surprised to discover Seana (Dear Sky News: it's "shawn-uh" not "see-anna") only came into use in the last century. You'd think people would've needed a female form of Sean much earlier.

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TheSandgroper · 26/10/2024 02:33

I have worked with a Scottish Sheena.

There is a Shayna Blaze on TV in Australia.

Shauna Ahern writes a blog.

Beachs · 25/10/2024 07:45

I met two Seana’s when I worked in America both pronounced it see-ana perhaps it’s an American thing? I’ve never seen the name other than through them so assumed it was See-ana.

Shauna is how I would spell it.

KirstenBlest · 22/10/2024 09:56

@WhittlingIhopMonkey , Jennifer has no association with the name John. Jennifer is from Guinevere, as is Gaenor/Gaynor and Gwenhwyfar.

KirstenBlest · 22/10/2024 09:36

Sioned is Welsh not Irish. It's the equivalent of Sinead or Janet.
Shauna seems the best of the three spellings in the OP, but the name seems a bit dated.

BoleynMemories13 · 22/10/2024 06:56

Seana has major pronunciation issues. I've never seen it spelt like this before, personally.

Out of the other two, Shauna is the most visually pleasing.

ShawnaCochran07 · 22/10/2024 01:43

Foggymist · 16/09/2018 09:07

I'm Irish, only ever know Shaunas. I know one Séana, a guy, pronounced Shay-na because the fada is on the e not the a. Shawna just looks like a phonetic abomination of Shauna.

What the fuck dude.

florascotia2 · 18/09/2018 15:39

It's not simply a matter of all Irish names existing before and separately from English-language ones.

Some Irish (and Scottish Gaelic ) names, yes, indeed. Probably most of them.

But some other names, used in Ireland, England, Scotland etc etc etc are truly international, in that they all derive from a single ancient name although over millenia they have developed independently in different cultures and language areas.

'John' and 'Sean' (and Ian and Jean and Juan and Ivan and Johannes and Jan and Yann and Janos and Evan etc etc etc) are ALL different forms of an old Hebrew name 'Yochanan'.

The present-day feminine forms of 'Yochanan' - of which there must be 20 or 30 or more, throughout Europe - have similarly developed differently in different cultures/languages. But they all ultimately derive from the same ancient origin.

MrsRachel85 · 18/09/2018 15:16

Shauna.

WhittlingIhopMonkey · 18/09/2018 12:55

Also, it's arrogant in the extreme to assume that all English names existed first and other countries just copied them. Maybe jane/janet/John come from the same source but the Irish didn't take those names and come up with sean/sinead/sine as result. Some misguided people might believe you can translate English names to Irish but in reality the Irish names are names in their own right not 'versions of English' ones.

WhittlingIhopMonkey · 18/09/2018 12:02

Atticarose, being Irish and growing up speaking Irish is a better source.

Sungura · 16/09/2018 18:28

AtticaRose, Thanks for the tip. 🙏💕 Studying the etymology of names is only somewhat different than studying linguistics, really. I appreciate the support! 👍 I was a mediocre Linguistics student. Shani is a much nicer name than Shauna.

DianaBlythe · 16/09/2018 18:01

I’ve known a Shauni and a Shani in Scotland. And lots of Shonas.

AtticaRose · 16/09/2018 17:48

As PP said, Whittling:

Jane is a female version of John. Irish version is Síne. Diminutive is Janet (in Irish, Sinéad).

Joan/Joanne/Joanna is a different female version of John, via French, with various spellings. Irish = Siobhán.

Behindthename.com is a good reliable source for all of these.

Sungura · 16/09/2018 17:23

Shauna is not a favorite name, not even close, though I like Sean. Sean is the Irish version of John. I guess the names Sinead, Siobhan, and Sioned are the female equivalents to Sean. I've got some Irish heritage but am not Irish, so just presuming based on word origins.

LucyFox · 16/09/2018 17:16

Shauna
Seana will always get mispronounced & Shawna is clunky

DumbledoresApprentice · 16/09/2018 17:13

Whittling- I’m pretty sure Jane is a feminine version of John.
OP- I think Shauna.

Original poster
lawrencecostin · 16/09/2018 17:08

The Sky News presenter mispronning Seana as "See-Anna" while the person she was talking to pronned it correctly as "Shawn-Uh"... I'd have complained to them but i didn't want to look like an ELITIST ;)

OP posts:
wouldHAVEshouldHAVEcouldHAVE · 16/09/2018 16:43

There was a Shauna at the toddler group I used to go to.
She had a twin brother- Shaun.
Guess the parents weren’t really worried about the matchy twin name thing.
They had exactly the same hair too (the twins, not the parents)

WhittlingIhopMonkey · 16/09/2018 15:14

Sinéad and Siobhán are not the feminine versions of Sean. Anymore than Jane & Jennifer are feminine versions of John.

The only thing they have in common is they are Irish names starting with s

dinosaurkisses · 16/09/2018 15:03

“Don't like it. Feels very much in the vein of dad wanting to name the first born after himself at any cost.“

Yup!

It’s also a bit dated- I’m in Ireland and I don’t know any under 35.

EthelThePiratesDaughter · 16/09/2018 14:59

I would go for Shona.

Iwasjustabouttosaythat · 16/09/2018 14:19

It’s very late 80/early 90s, but not in a good way. Like she’s emptied a whole tin of hairspray into her fringe.

DramaAlpaca · 16/09/2018 14:15

Shauna or Shona are both fine.

Seana will never be pronounced properly & Shawna makes me cringe.

As a pp has said, the usual feminine forms of Sean are Sinead & Siobhan (can't do fadas on phone) but while they are lovely names they sound very dated now.

dementedpixie · 16/09/2018 14:08

I know a Seona (pronounced Shona)

Shadow1234 · 16/09/2018 14:03

Shauna is a lovely name and only ever seen it spelt this way.

Also like
Sienna
Serena
Shona